News

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion reviews local group working with Romani children after its head attacks the HateFree Culture initiative

17.5.2016 14:00 The Czech Government Agency for Social Inclusion perceives the current situation regarding remarks made by the chair of the Lampa organization, Jiří Hanzl, to the media and on social networking sites to be serious and will propose an agenda item for discussing this situation during the next meeting of its Local Partnership in the town of Ralsko. Agency Director Radek Jiránek announced the proposal in a statement released today.  full story

Czech Jewish Community says speeches at Terezín commemoration were anti-German, nationalist and xenophobic

17.5.2016 11:38 Jewish communities in the Czech Republic say the speech given by the chair of the Czech Senate, Milan Štěch (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD) during Sunday's commemoration at Terezín was anti-German and nationalist. Likewise, the speech given by the head of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union, Jaroslav Vodička, was xenophobic because of the remarks it included about refugees.  full story

Czech Republic: Demonstration in Prague calls on EU to stop subsidizing pig farm on Romani Holocaust site

17.5.2016 10:15 Monday, 16 May was the International Day of Romani Resistance, a day to honor the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust and the heroic uprising of Romani people in the Auschwitz concentration camp. On that occasion the Konexe organization held a demonstration in front of the EU House, the headquarters of the representation of the European Commission and European Parliament in the Czech Republic.  full story

Chair of Czech Freedom Fighters' Union makes anti-refugee speech during Terezín commemoration, Chief Rabbi objects on the spot

17.5.2016 8:16 On 15 May, participants in the Terezín Commemoration Ceremony remembered the victims of Nazi persecution at the National Cemetery in front of the Small Fortress at the Terezín Memorial. The chair of the Czech Freedom Fighters' Union (Český svaz bojovníků za svobodu - ČSBS), Jaroslav Vodička, gave an anti-refugee, xenophobic speech, to which Chief Rabbi Karol Sidon gave an emotional response.  full story

video Czech Republic: Five charged for neo-Nazi assault on demonstration in favor of receiving refugees

16.5.2016 8:42 Prague Police officers have launched the prosecutions of five men who rioted in February during an incident on Thunovská Street in Prague. Masked rioters assaulted a march by activists who were supporting migrants.  full story

Czech Govt Agency for Social Inclusion's dilemma: What to do with haters of "HateFree" who work with Romani children?

14.5.2016 9:55 "Come take a look" says Romana Hanzlová as she welcomes me into the Lampa center in the town of Mimoň. The club is pleasantly furnished with a ping-pong table around which several people are sitting, the atmosphere is friendly.  full story

Czech Republic: Pig farm at Lety will apparently remain on Romani Holocaust site, talks are going nowhere

13.5.2016 21:57 The pig farm currently occupying the site of the former concentration camp for Romani people at Lety by Písek will apparently remain there. Czech Human Rights Minister Jiří Dienstbier (Czech Social Democratic Party - ČSSD), who has led several negotiations with the owner, says no concrete conclusion has arisen from the dialogue.  full story

videoVIDEO: Commemorative ceremony at Lety by Písek

13.5.2016 19:43 The traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of Nazism took place today at the Lety Memorial. The commemoration was organized, as it is every year, by the Committee for the Redress of the Romani Holocaust in the Czech Republic (Výbor pro odškodnění romského holocaustu v České republice - VPORH), which brings together the former Romani prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps and the surviving relatives of the victims.  full story

Speech by Miroslav Brož at Lety by Písek

13.5.2016 13:56 It is mid-May and we have assembled, as we do every year, to honor the memory of the Romani victims of the Holocaust, to remember the victims of the Lety concentration camp, and to remember the victims of the genocide perpetrated against the Romani people.  full story

Czech Republic: "Romani Resistance Days" to involve symbolic blockade of Lety pig farm, protest in Prague

12.5.2016 14:14 The Konexe association is preparing a program to honor the memories of the victims of the Romani Holocaust and the heroic uprising of Romani people at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The events will take place from 13-16 May in the Czech Republic.  full story

DG Justice seminar series on improving media coverage of Romani people comes to the Czech Republic

11.5.2016 7:58 A two-day international media seminar began in Brno yesterday, attended by representatives of the Czech Government Inter-ministerial Commission for Roma Community Affairs, nonprofit organizations, the Romani community, and domestic and international journalists. Organizers say the aim of the seminar is to develop closer communication between journalists, municipalities, local authorities and organizations in order to support more balanced, precise coverage of Romani issues in both alternative and mainstream media throughout Europe.  full story

Czech report on extremism for last year: 307 events, anti-refugee protests replaced anti-Romani ones

8.5.2016 16:59 Czech extremists held 307 events last year, 16 more than in 2014. They assembled most frequently in Prague, and police reported protests outside of facilities for foreign nationals as a new phenomenon.  full story

Hundreds protest border closure between Austria and Italy and demand a border-free Europe

8.5.2016 15:32 Hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police yesterday at the Brenner Pass in the Alps that connects Austria with Italy. The demonstrators were mostly young left-wing radicals from Italy who attempted to cross the border, which Austria is preparing to establish checkpoints at to stop any eventual flow of migrants into the country.  full story

Bulgaria: Anti-Romani protests in southern town of Radnevo

8.5.2016 9:14 Anti-Romani unrest broke out last Wednesday in the southern Bulgarian town of Radnevo. Approximately 2 000 Bulgarians demonstrated for a fair investigation of a brawl on Monday between three ethnic Bulgarians and four men from a local Romani family that resulted in serious injuries.  full story

Czech Republic: Traditional commemoration of the Romani victims of Nazism next week at Lety by Písek

6.5.2016 14:11 The traditional commemorative ceremony honoring the Romani victims of Nazism at the site of the Lety Memorial will take place this year on Friday, 13 May. The ceremony is being held, as it has been every year, by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (VPORH), which brings together the former Romani prisoners of the Nazi concentration camps and the surviving relatives of the victims of those camps.  full story

Prague City Hall joins Czech Government's "HateFree" campaign despite Prague City Assembly vote against it

6.5.2016 13:22 Prague City Hall has decided to join the "HateFree Culture" campaign calling for tolerance of minorities and refugees despite a decision by the Prague City Assembly not to do so. The decision to join the campaign was taken on 3 May by the Prague City Council.  full story

Academic research finds no differences between Czech and Romani pupils' delinquent behavior

6.5.2016 9:39 According to a new study performed by the University of Kentucky in collaboration with the Institute for Psychology at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and published in the prestigious Journal of Criminal Justice, no differences were found between Czech and Romani pupils attending the same schools when it came to alcohol use, school misconduct, or theft. The website of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic reported the publication on 2 May.  full story

Czech Republic: Terezín Commission refuses NGO request to officially fly the LGBTQ and Romani flags during commemoration

5.5.2016 22:26 Jan Munk, the director of the Terezín Memorial who also chairs the Commission for the Preparation of the Terezín Commemoration, has refused a request from 14 organizations that the LGBTQ (rainbow) and Romani flags be flown next to the flags of various states during the 15 May event. "At the national cemetery in Terezín where this commemoration takes place, the flags of all the nations whose members fell victim to Nazi persecution and who passed through the concentration camps are flown during the commemoration ceremony. For many of those people, their distressing journey began by being transported to Terezín. To our great surprise, there is no Romani flag flown at Terezín even though, together with Jewish people, it is the Roma as a group who were affected most by Nazi persecution in the Czech lands," the organizations said in an open letter.  full story

Czech President says he vetoed education amendment because of inclusion

5.5.2016 8:53 Czech President Miloš Zeman has vetoed an amendment to the Schools Act that would introduce mandatory school-leaving examinations in mathematics and places in preschools for two-year-old children. Jiří Ovčáček, spokesperson for the Office of the President, communicated the news to the Czech News Agency yesterday.  full story

Commentary: Czech tabloid quotes Romani man as opposing inclusive education, other Romani representatives respond

3.5.2016 7:52 The Czech tabloid Blesk.cz has been engaged in a campaign to prevent the closure of the separate special needs schools and to prevent the abolition of the "Appendix to the Framework Education Program on Mild Mental Disability". As part of that campaign, the tabloid chose to contact Andrej Lučka, the regional chair of the Romani Democratic Party in Rokycany and the chair of the "Help Roma" organization (and apparently a special school graduate himself), who told the tabloid, among other things, that he will "Defend [his] practical and special school at any cost, even with pitchforks".  full story